Almond Dust Busters:
Challenges of harvest dust met on several fronts. Orchard dust management
practices paying off. Almond Board-funded research looks for further
improvements - - Dust at harvest time is an unavoidable fact as almond
orchards are harvested on more than
500,000 bearing acres throughout the
bowl-shaped San Joaquin Valley plagued with air pollution. Almond growers
are doing their part through conservation management practices which have
earned high marks from air quality officials. However, the industry is not
sitting back on its laurels as the Almond Board of California is using
assessment dollars to help fund research that is looking at various growing
practices and machinery that may help further minimize the air quality
problems associated with dust.
<more>Nov.
8, 2005 Almond Board of California Press Release

Crop Protection

Environmental stewardship, maximizing production
can go hand-in-hand, says IPM award winning almond grower - -
Environmentally friendly production practices and maximizing production can
go hand-in-hand says a Kern Country almond grower who has been honored by
the state of California for his innovative integrated pest management (IPM)
techniques. Thomas Vetsch, owner of Bakersfield-based Vetsch Farms, decided
more than seven years ago to convert 160 acres of his conventionally farmed
almond orchard to practices that reduce reliance on broad-spectrum
insecticides and routine fungicides. With financial support from the Almond
Board of California’s Pest Management Alliance project and the scientific
expertise of the University of California Cooperative Extension, Vetsch has
virtually eliminated the use of synthetic pesticides to manage key pests in
the orchard, reducing overall inputs while increasing yields throughout the
orchard. The practices he has developed on his Kern County orchard have been
so successful he has converted all four ranches at Vetsch Farms of
California to sustainable, IPM-based farming. <more>Dec. 21,
2005 Almond Board of California Press Release

Endangered Species

EPA
publishes plan for protecting endangered species from pesticides - -
EPA has published a final
notice on its enforceable program for the protection of Endangered Species.
The Endangered Species Protection Program (ESPP) will address, to the degree
possible, endangered species issues within the Agency’s existing processes
of registration, re-registration
and, in the future, registration review. If geographically specific
pesticide use limitations are necessary, EPA will create an Endangered
Species Protection Bulletin (Bulletin) that will contain enforceable use
limitations for the pesticide. Bulletins will be referenced on the pesticide
product label and available on the web at www.epa.gov/espp or by calling
1-800-447-3813. The existing "county bulletins" are not enforceable
pesticide use limitations. <more>Nov. 3, 2005 EPA Press Release

General Industry News

Almond Board of California Honors Outgoing
Production Research and Environmental Director Chris Heintz - - The
California almond industry encompassed 428,000 acres producing 507 million
pounds of almonds annually when Chris Heintz began her job in 1996 as
Director of Production Research at the Almond Board of California. Fast
forward to 2005 with acreage nearing 600,000 acres with bin-busting
production of over a billion pounds. The numbers may have changed but the
challenges and the rewards of the job have not, says Heintz, who is stepping
down from a full-time position at the Board as 2005 draws to a close.<more>Dec.
22, 2005 Almond Board of California Press Release

CDFA sets pilot bee certification plan - - To
hasten inspections of out-of-state shipments of honeybees vital for
pollination of the state's almond crop in 2006, the California Department of
Food and Agriculture has adopted a voluntary, pilot certification plan.
Revealed at a recent seminar by the Almond Board of California (ABC) at
Modesto, the plan is a modification of the effort to exclude entry of bee
colonies contaminated with red imported fire ants (RIFA) and noxious weeds
at California border stations. <more>Dec. 19,
2005 Western Farm Press

Industry Abuzz: Oils fight
bee mites. Nut growers find hope in new method - - A whiff of thyme, or
maybe cloves or cinnamon, might keep a type of mite from undermining the
almond industry. Researchers, speaking at last week's annual conference of
the Almond Board of California, said oils extracted from certain herbs show
promise against varroa mites. These pests can get into bee colonies that
pollinate almond orchards, drink the bees' blood and shorten their lives.
Researchers said the intensely flavored oils, injected into the colonies in
a solution or other form, are showing promise. "It will change the taste of
the bees' blood, and the mites will say they don't like it," said Gordon
Wardell, an entomologist at the federal Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in
Tucson, Ariz.<more>Dec. 18,
2005 Modesto Bee

Pollinators given a
passport to ride - - Pollinators coming into California to work in the
almond orchards are getting a stamp on their passports that could make
travel across the border a little easier. The California Department of Food
and Agriculture has launched a pilot project that would allow out-of-state
beekeepers to certify their bees free from the red imported fire ant and
other pests before they leave their state of origin. Beekeepers that
participate in the program could then find bee passage across state lines
much smoother — and almond growers could get their essential pollinators in
a more timely fashion.<more>Nov. 17, 2005 Capital Press

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